A battery of 3 Russian guns captured during the Crimean War of 1854-6, were the first monuments erected in Kelvingrove Park. (see picture right) Kelvingrove Park is a public park located on the River Kelvin in the West End of the city of Glasgow. Erected during the first week of July 1857, these historic monuments disappeared long ago and, until recently, no detailed photograph of the guns was known to exist.

The guns were 3 of the many thousands of cannons and mortars captured from the Russians during the Crimean War. Glasgow's guns comprised a trench mortar, which had been captured by HMS Blenheim in Finland, during the first Baltic Campaign of March - June 1854. The other guns were two ship's cannons "of a large size and beautiful finish, mounted upon strong handsome carriages", which were captured at the fall of Sebastopol in 1855. In 1898, the guns' wooden carriages were replaced after the originals had rotted and had become dangerous. Some years later, the guns were moved back from the original position and placed closer to the Park Terrace gates. Their original location was later occupied by the statue of Lord Roberts in 1916, during the First World War.

We now move to modern day times and an exciting discovery:

The riddle of a military cannon which was found in the garden of a house has finally been solved, with help from members of a historical society. The Milngavie and Bearsden Herald ran a story in February 2017 which appealed for information about the cannon which was in the garden of a family home in Switchback Road, Bearsden. The owner of the historic artefact was keen to find out more about it and how it got there. The following update is based on editorial that was published 31 March 2017.

Since February, Marie Davidson, secretary of The Historical Association for Glasgow and the West of Scotland and her husband Richard Binns, association treasurer, who live locally, have been doing research to find out more about the cannon. They believe that it may have come from Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow because two Russian cannons, dated 1857, which were gifted to Glasgow, were placed there as a memorial for the fallen soldiers in the Crimean War. Mrs Davidson said:

"The cannons reminded people of the charge of the Light Brigade thanks to a poem by Lord Tennyson. It is said that they came from the siege of Sebastopol. They were moved from the park in 1916 to make room for the famous statue of Lord Robert's and nobody knew what happened to them - yet one of them appears to have come to light in a garden in Bearsden in the 1930s, in an area which was previously part of Garscube Estate. After approaching the military museum in Edinburgh the owner has also discovered that two cannons were melted down in 1926 and the third one disappeared. The cannon shows the Russian Imperial symbol of an double headed eagle and looks very similar in size to the ones that were in Kelvingrove Park."

"This is a very exciting find and it is now being considered for conservation due to itís historical significance. We are going to help the owner to seek advice from the Scottish Civic Trust and Historic Scotland for the best way forward now. We would like to thank Gary Nisbet, an expert on Glasgow Sculptures, for all his help in solving this mystery." (see opening text above or click on website below)

The cannon has now been removed from the garden in Switchback Road because the house has been demolished for new flats to be built.